Haiti and the Americas

7. Foreign Impulses in Annie Desroy’s Le Joug

161 7 Foreign Impulses in Annie Desroy’s Le Joug —Nadève Ménard The Caribbean has long been recognized as a point of contact between several peoples. Over the years, this contact has taken various forms, ranging from violent conquest to peaceful cohabitation. The American occupation of Haiti, from 1915 to 1934, brought about brutal contact between two groups who had little previous experience with each other, Haitians and Americans. Many Haitian novels of the period reflect the societal turmoil caused by the occupation. The six novels that most directly represent the culture shocks of the time—Fernand Hibbert’s Les Simulacres (1923), Léon Laleau’s Le Choc (1932), Stéphen Alexis’s Le Nègre Masqué (1933), Cléante Valcin’s La Blanche Négresse (1934), Annie Desroy’s Le Joug (1934), and Maurice Casséus’ Viejo (1935)—all use romantic and sexual relationships as metaphors for the U.S. occupation of Haitian land.1 Annie Desroy’s Le Joug, published in Port-au-Prince in the final year of the U.S. occupation, presents certain particularities that distinguish it from other texts of the period; Desroy and her contemporary Cléante Valcin problematize gender and sexuality in more complex ways than their male counterparts. While examining Valcin remains outside the scope of this essay, looking at Desroy’s novel shows how these female authors explore the ways in which nationalism is couched in gendered terms.2 Furthermore, the narrative techniques deployed by Annie Desroy allow her to offer a nuanced portrayal of both Haitian and American characters. Literary critics have often commented on the careful psychological development of foreign characters in Le Joug. An American, Colonel Harry Murray, is at the center of the plot, and Desroy even considered titling the novel Murray l’indigénophile (Desroy, 8). The American protagonist is known for his appreciation of natives and is presented in contrast to his predecessor, Colonel Kick, “réputé pour sa grossièreté et sa haine des noirs et qu’on accusait à tort ou à raison d’avoir provoqué la méfiance générale” (Desroy, 25). Murray is also presented in contrast to his wife Arabella, who is portrayed as a stereotypical racist. The other married couple in the Nadève Ménard 162 novel is a Haitian one: Frédéric and Fernande Vernon, the Murrays’ nextdoor neighbors. An analysis of the interactions between these two couples helps to elucidate the novel’s racial and sexual politics. As Myriam Chancy explains in her article “Ayiti çé ter glissé: L’occupation américaine en Haïti et l’émergence de voix féminines en littérature haïtienne,” “à travers deux couples, l’un américain et l’autre haïtien, Desroy examine la dynamique raciale, sexuelle et de classe pendant l’Occupation” (19). While I find Desroy ’s representation of class dynamics somewhat biased and superficial, I do agree that the ways in which she engages with issues of race, gender , and sexuality in the novel add depth to her portrayal of U.S.-Haitian relations. Relationships between members of the two groups as presented by Desroy—be they friendships or sexual liaisons—are clearly shown to be intricately embedded within the overarching political structure of the occupation, but also within the context of prevailing hierarchies of class, race, and gender. Because the novel’s focus is on group dynamics, not the development of an individual character, Desroy uses an omniscient narrator. This choice allows the reader access to the thoughts and actions of all the main characters . In illustrating the multilayered relationships that exist between Haitians and foreigners during the occupation, Desroy is one of very few authors to offer a sustained American perspective of the intervention. Yvette Tardieu Feldman explains that le propos implicite de l’auteur consistant à servir d’interprète entre Occupants et Occupés, la situation haïtienne est analysée selon l’optique d’un étranger, et la mentalité américaine est montrée en direct ainsi qu’à travers les réactions des observateurs haïtiens. Or ce point de vue de négociateur diplomatique place Annie Desroy en position minoritaire par rapport à ses confrères chez qui la haine de l’Occupant va de pair avec l’idéalisation de l’Occupé. (37) Thus readers of Le Joug are able to view the Americans from a Haitian perspective and vice versa. Indeed, the American occupation is first evoked through Fernande Vernon’s eyes. As she...